Marilyn Jean Kelly is a jurist in the U.S. state

U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

 of Michigan

Michigan

Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....

. Mrs. Kelly is serving her second term in office as a Justice on the Michigan Supreme Court

Michigan Supreme Court

The Michigan Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is known as Michigan's "court of last resort" and consists of seven justices who are elected to eight-year terms. Candidates are nominated by political parties and are elected on a nonpartisan ballot...

. Due to her being over 70 years old, she will be ineligible for reelection when her term expires on January 1, 2013.

Following Clifford Taylor

Clifford Taylor

Clifford "Cliff" Taylor was Chief Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court from 2005 through 2009.Taylor was appointed to the court in 1997 by then-Governor John Engler, ran for election to the balance of the appointed term in 1998 and was reelected in 2000. He was chosen by his fellow justices to be...

's defeat in the 2008 elections, Justice Kelly was elected 4-3 to succeed him as Chief Justice

Chief Justice

The Chief Justice in many countries is the name for the presiding member of a Supreme Court in Commonwealth or other countries with an Anglo-Saxon justice system based on English common law, such as the Supreme Court of Canada, the Constitutional Court of South Africa, the Court of Final Appeal of...

 of Michigan. She held that position until 2011 when Robert P. Young, Jr. was elected by the justices of the court.

Biography

Kelly is a Detroit

Detroit, Michigan

Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...

 native and 1956 graduate of Mackenzie High School

Mackenzie High School (Michigan)

Mackenzie High School was a public secondary education facility in Detroit, Michigan.-The early years: 1928–1940s :Located on Detroit's west side, David Mackenzie High School was named to honor the innovative educator who had served as principal of Central High School, and as first dean of the...

. In the fall of 1956, Marilyn Jean Kelly moved to Ypsilanti

Ypsilanti, Michigan

Ypsilanti is a city in Washtenaw County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 22,362. The city is bounded to the north by the Charter Township of Superior and on the west, south, and east by the Charter Township of Ypsilanti...

 to begin undergraduate coursework at Eastern Michigan University

Eastern Michigan University

Eastern Michigan University is a comprehensive, co-educational public university located in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Ypsilanti is west of Detroit and eight miles east of Ann Arbor. The university was founded in 1849 as Michigan State Normal School...

; she received her B.A.

Bachelor's degree

A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...

 from E.M.U. in 1960. One year later, Kelly was awarded a Masters degree in French Language and Literature from Middlebury College

Middlebury College

Middlebury College is a private liberal arts college located in Middlebury, Vermont, USA. Founded in 1800, it is one of the oldest liberal arts colleges in the United States. Drawing 2,400 undergraduates from all 50 United States and over 70 countries, Middlebury offers 44 majors in the arts,...

 in Vermont

Vermont

Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...

. Following a brief stay in France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, wrapping up her graduate studies at La Sorbonne - the University of Paris

University of Paris

The University of Paris was a university located in Paris, France and one of the earliest to be established in Europe. It was founded in the mid 12th century, and officially recognized as a university probably between 1160 and 1250...

, Miss Kelly spent five years teaching French in the Grosse Pointe

Grosse Pointe

Grosse Pointe refers to a coastal area in Metro Detroit, Michigan, United States that comprises five adjacent individual communities. From southwest to northeast, they are:*Grosse Pointe Park, city*Grosse Pointe, city*Grosse Pointe Farms, city...

 public school system, Albion College

Albion College

Albion College is a private liberal arts college located in Albion, Michigan. Related to the United Methodist Church, it was founded in 1835 and was the first private college in Michigan to have a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa. It has a student population of about 1500.The school's sports teams are...

 and Eastern Michigan University

Eastern Michigan University

Eastern Michigan University is a comprehensive, co-educational public university located in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Ypsilanti is west of Detroit and eight miles east of Ann Arbor. The university was founded in 1849 as Michigan State Normal School...

.

Law career

Marilyn Jean Kelly also served on the Michigan State Board of Education during the 1960s; later elected as President of the statewide organization. In 1971, Marilyn Jean Kelly graduated with honors from the Wayne State University Law School

Wayne State University Law School

Wayne State University Law School is located in the City of Detroit’s Cultural Center, and is one of the schools of Wayne State University. It is one of two public law schools in the state of Michigan. The Law School has educated and trained lawyers since 1927, and its 10,000+ alumni serve as...

. For the next seventeen years, Kelly clerked and practiced law as an associate attorney; eventually opening her own practice - Marilyn Kelly and Associates, of Bloomfield Hills

Bloomfield Hills, Michigan

Bloomfield Hills is a city in Oakland County of the U.S. state of Michigan, northwest of downtown Detroit. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 3,869...

.

In 1988, Kelly was elected to the first of two consecutive terms on the Michigan Court of Appeals

Michigan Court of Appeals

The Michigan Court of Appeals is the intermediate-level appellate court of the state of Michigan. It was created by the Michigan Constitution of 1963, and commenced operations in 1965...

. In 1996, during her second term on the appellate court, Marilyn Jean Kelly won election to the Michigan Supreme Court

Michigan Supreme Court

The Michigan Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is known as Michigan's "court of last resort" and consists of seven justices who are elected to eight-year terms. Candidates are nominated by political parties and are elected on a nonpartisan ballot...

. Justice Kelly won a landslide re-election to the high court in 2004; receiving over 2 million votes - nearly half a million more than the runner-up.